Mascara compositions are pigmented compositions for application to eyelashes and eyebrows to beautify the eyes by providing desirable appearances such as thickening, lengthening, coloring, and defining the individual lashes.
Mascara is known to take a vast number of forms including cakes or blocks, creams, gels, and low viscosity liquids. Cake mascaras were originally the most popular form of this cosmetic. Their composition was made up of at least 50% soap whereby the pigment was mixed with the soap and stamped into cakes. With a wet brush, it could be lathered and then applied to the lashes resulting in a satisfactory, smooth application. Its primary drawback was that the film on the lashes was very water soluble and prone to smudging and running of the product transferring to the skin around the perimeter of the eye. Later on, improvements were made to the cake mascara which incorporated waxes to improve the water-resistance over the original soap-based form. This was usually at the expense of the smoothness of application.
With the advent of the automatic applicator, spiral-tipped wand or wand & brush applicator, cream and liquid mascaras came into being. Cream mascaras were usually dispersions of waxes and pigments in water with the end consistency very much like a vanishing cream. Combined with an automatic applicator, they soon surpassed the cake mascara in popularity due to their convenience of use which was less dependent upon actual technique by the user than the cake-based applicators. Most of the ingredients were similar to the improved form of the cake mascara and so many of the same shortcomings were still inherent. However, because it was a cream texture, the concentration of water was greater and allowed for the incorporation of natural and synthetic film-formers to help improve wear. The primary drawback of adding these film-formers was that the application time was shortened. As the water evaporated, the polymers coalesced and formed a film which resulted in increased clumping of the mascara on the lashes. Clumping upon application remained as a problem. To solve this dilemma various types of liquids were included into mascara formulations.
Incorporating liquid materials which are either non-volatile or evaporate more slowly than water, eases application of the mascara composition onto the lashes and reduces clumping. Such liquid materials includes humectants like propylene glycol, glycerine, and volatile components such as cyclomethicone and petroleum distillates, and natural or synthetic oils such as mineral oil or dimethicone. However, since these materials are liquids they do not effectively contribute substantially to the lash thickening properties of the mascara as would solid, semi-solid, or mesomorphic ingredients. Additionally, these materials can create problems in the formulation since they exist as liquids. In sufficient concentrations, they increase the solubility of the mascara film with respect to water, tears, sebum, and oils resulting in a potential for smudging. Similarly, they can also decrease the strength of the film or melting point of the wax phase resulting in a greater potential for smearing to occur.
Therefore, there is a need to have a mascara containing a material which when incorporated into a mascara composition controls the setting rate of the composition to provide sufficient time to distribute the mascara in semi-liquid form onto the lashes and contributing lash-thickening properties while avoiding negative aesthetics.